Shepherd And Sheep

Quid vobis videtur? si fuerint alicui centum oves, et erravit una ex eis: nonne relinquit nonaginta novem in montibus, et vadit quaerere eam quae erravit? Et si contigerit ut inveniat eam: amen dico vobis, quia gaudet super eam magis quam super nonaginta novem, quae non erraverunt. Sic non est voluntas ante Patrem vestrum, qui in caelis est, ut pereat unus de pusillis istis. Ostendit per quamdam similitudinem quod Deus omnes venit salvare homines qui perierant. Ipse est pastor, qui habet centum oves. Centum oves, sunt ordines angelorum et hominum in sua perfectione perseverantes: una erravit, quando homo peccavit, et dum minutus est numerus, factus est imperfectus. Deseruit Christus nonaginta novem in montibus, hoc est, in coelestibus, quando Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. Ovem invenit, quando hominem restauravit, et super eam inventam majus gaudium est in coelo, quam supra nonaginta novem, quia major gloria et major materia laudis fuit ei in restauratione hominum, quam in creatione angelorum. Mirabiliter enim homines creavit, sed mirabilius reformavit. Nihil enim fuit mirabilius, quam quod Filius Dei exinanivit se, formam servi accipiens, et humiliavit se usque ad mortem. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput XVIII Source: Migne PL 162.1470c-d

How does it seem to you? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains, and go off to seek that which has gone astray? And if it happens that he finds it, truly I say to you, that he rejoices more than for the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 1 He shows through a certain similitude that God wishes to save every man who perishes. He is the shepherd who has a hundred sheep. The hundred sheep are the orders of the angels and men who maintain their perfection. One wandered one when man sinned and while the number is small he is made flawed. Christ left the ninety nine in the mountains, that is, in the heavens, when 'the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.' 2 He found the sheep when He restored man, and over the one He found there was greater rejoicing in heaven than over the ninety nine, because there was greater glory and more matter for praise in the restoration of men than in the creation of angels. It is a wonder that He created men, but more wonderful it is that He restored them. For nothing is more wonderful than that the Son of God emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant, and humbled Himself even to death. 3 Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 18 1 Mt 18.11-13 2 Jn 1.14 3 Philip 2.6-8